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The Patriots’ star quarterback had New Englanders furiously checking their Twitter accounts for the latest updates on the status of his knee on Wednesday. Just two days later, Brady completed 11-of-12 passes and couldn’t have looked more comfortable out on the Gillette Stadium field against the Buccaneers.

Brady was the star of the game, but his tight end, Zach Sudfeld, wasn’t half bad, either. Sudfeld caught a two-point conversion from Brady and a touchdown from Ryan Mallett, while pulling in two catches on four targets for 32 yards. Sudfeld almost has Patriots fans forgetting Rob Gronkowski is recovering from back surgery and Aaron Hernandez is gone. While Sudfeld looked like a long shot for the roster when he was signed as an undrafted free agent in April, it would be downright shocking if the Nevada product got cut now.

Rookies Logan Ryan and Jamie Collins shined on defense. Ryan took an interception back to the house off Mike Glennon in the third quarter. Ryan received a ton of reps with the first and second teams outside and in the slot at cornerback. Collins had one drive where it seemed like he made every meaningful play on defense. Collins’ play against the run really improved in his second preseason game. He finished with six tackles, one for a loss.

To hear more about Brady, Sudfeld, Collins and Ryan, watch NESN.com’s Patriots writers Doug Kyed and Luke Hughes discuss the stars of the game in the video above.

Have a question for Doug Kyed? Send it to him via Twitter at @DougKyedNESN.